Measuring transfers of control in program execution: input sensitivity for numerical programs

The mean number of instructions executed between transfers of control is of interest in designing pipelines, instruction buffers and management strategies for them. The analysis of three nontrivial numerical programs shows that the range of values received for a program may vary widely with the program´s input. This confirms previous findings and suggests that caution should be exercised when measuring and reporting this characteristic. The results also suggest that program type can influence the sensitivity of this characteristic to program input